Fearless

It's interesting that as my class is going through this "Do Not Fear" series, I find that Max Lucado has a book coming out in the Fall called Fearless. That would've been a nice title for my series, catchier than "Do Not Fear". It would've also been nice if the book could've come out sooner. I'm sure that it would have so much relevant information I could reference throughout my study series. In his great story-telling way, he would be able to tie Scripture into interesting life stories. I had a chance to preview the first Chapter, and it really has some very good thoughts and insights. What's neat, is that he also makes the link between FEAR and lack of FAITH. He suggested that our default emotion to difficulties should not be FEAR, but rather the contrasting emotion of FAITH. He also gives some great quotes on FEAR:

• "Fear corrodes our confidence in God's goodness"
• "Fear, at its center, is a perceived loss of control"
• "Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia.....It makes us forget what Jesus has done and how good God is."

He said that 21 out of the 125 Christ-issued imperatives in the Gospels urge us to "not be afraid" or "not fear" or "have courage", or "take heart" or "be of good cheer". And that link between FEAR and lack of FAITH is again shown in Matt 8:26 when Christ says “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” when he is awakened by the frightened disciples when the seismos storm hit, one that shook them with fear. May our faith help us to overcome our fears.